teChapter 4
"Mr. Coriander you may come retrieve your wife on the tarmac within the hour."
This message alarmed him and he stood for a second to think. First, only Miki was supposed to have this number. Second, who could have sent this? And third, why wasn't Miki the one to get ahold of him? He got on his watch to contact Nila and the twins.
"Girls?" He said into the watch. Nila was the first to answer, then Luna. "What's up, dad?"
"I just got the message your mom will be back in town within an hour. I'm going to start the Roadrunner and head out soon."
"Yay!" Lina said over the watch. "Can we come?"
"I don't think there will be enough room in the car for you girls and all the stuff I have to pick up from Elmer's. I'll call when I'm on the way back." He said in an uneasy tone.
Nila jumped in. "Are you okay? You sound... off."
"I'm sure it's nothing. Just get the house ready. Love you, kiddo's."
"Love you, dad!" The three said. Leon smiled at that and went to the car.
He pulled into Elmers after a twenty minute drive and went inside. "Hey there son! Got quite a bit of stuff waiting for ya." He went behind the counter into the office and produced a dolly with several boxes and went back to grab another dolly full. "This first pile is from your father. This other pile I presume is for the girls. Sign here, please." Leon signed a payment and delivery ledger. Elmer helped him take the carts outside to the car and shook Leon's hand before he went back in his shop. The first stack of boxes had four long boxes and three smaller ones, all from NeuroDyne, an up and coming cybernetic and bionic tech company, while the other stack had twelve clothing boxes. Why the hell did dad send me this stuff? He knows I don't like that type of invasive technology, Leon thought. He barely had room in the trunk for the heavy NeuroDyne boxes and half of the clothing boxes so he put the other half in the back seat.
It was a ten minute drive across the small town to the airport and the traffic was light as he made his way. As he neared the airport he saw a sleek, black private jet with a golden dragon logo on the fin and knew Miki was landing. He parked and made his way through security and went to the gate and onto the tarmac. As he stepped out, he saw a figure in a black business suit and sunglasses holding onto a wheel chair with an IV bag rack and a person wrapped in a blanket waiting in front of the open jet. His heart skipped and then raced as he walked faster. When he got near enough to see, it became clear that the person in the wheelchair hooked up to an IV drip. It was Miki.
He rushed to her side and got on a knee. As the wind blew the blanket opened a bit, but it was enough. Her legs and arms were missing. The stumps were wrapped tight.
"You will be happy to know, Mr. Coriander," the suit said "That your wife didn't give the dragon mother what she wanted. She is very loyal to her father and very resilient."
"I'm going to kill you." Leon said as his reddened eyes stared through the Japanese man in the suit.
"That would not be wise or productive. I am just the escort. Besides," he pointed behind himself to the door of the jet. "You wouldn't get very far." Just in the doorway there was a large, black cyborg standing just within eyesight. It had samurai style armor but a black skull for a head and blazing red eyes. It's visible arm had a large caliber rifle aimed at Leon as it waited for the escort to re-board the plane.
"You are free to take your wife. We will be in contact with you in a few weeks time. Until then, have a good day, Mr. Coriander. He suit turned and climbed the steps and entered the plane, then the door lifted and the engines revved up.
"My God, baby! What have they done to you!"
"Please," Miki said weakly. "Take me home. I'll explain on the way." Leon began pushing the wheelchair to the terminal and through the airport, tears streaking his cheeks. He carefully put her limbless body in the car and tossed the wheelchair behind his seat, barely caring about the boxes already filling the back already. He climbed in, fighting crying out loud as he left the airport.
"Tell me what happened. Tell me, please, Miki."
"It was my mother, of course. She wanted what my father had left for me. My inheritance. His legacy. He didn't want her to have it and I swore I would never give it to her. She repaid my loyalty to my father by making sure I would never set foot in Japan again. Nor ever touch my husband again. Luckily your father heard about what happened. Did you get what he sent you? It should be at Elmer's."
"I did. It's in the trunk. How did my father know about what happened?" Leon asked.
"Our fathers were friends when they were younger, before my father got married. They were in a special tactical unit in the military during the corporate war. They built something together and promised to make sure our families were involved later when something else major was supposed to happen. My father gave me a key and an envelope that I wasn't to open until a certain time and that I would know when that was. He said your and my inheritance were put with this special package and that my mother was not to have anything to do with it and never get it. I still don't know what it is, but it was very important to him that I followed those rules, no matter what my mother did to get it. After I wouldn't let her have what she wanted, she did this to me. But your father still had loyalists in my family who were let known about part of their plan and reported back to your father about what happened to me, so he sent a package to help with my recovery. I know this is terrible what happened to me but it is for the better in the long run. We will still have to hide and maybe move soon but they are leaving us alone for now. My mother, as you know, does not like Americans or anyone who isn't Japanese in her family and when she heard I had married you, she began her campaign to out my father as head of the Gilded Dragon family. She said he had weakened it and must be replaced by a national loyalist, such as herself."
"Did you know that this was going to happen? Why didn't you tell me any of this before?" Leon was close to shouting.
"I knew what was going to possibly happen, but not this exactly. I am most happy she at least let me go home. If you knew what was going to happen you would have never let me go. But in me doing this, mother overplayed her hand and it will cause a major uprising in the ranks of the clan and we have a better chance of getting our family out of this situation." After a few moments of silence, Miki added "I just want to get hime and see our children."
They will be happy you are home but horrified what was done to you."
"Nila will know what to do. She has all she needs to fix me. Just take me to the lab when we get home and we will go from there."
Leon wiped his wet cheeks. "That reminds me, I need to tell them we are on the way back." He got on the watch when he stopped at a light and paged his girls.
"Girls, your mother and I are on the way home. Nila, I need you to get the lab ready. Lina, Luna, I need you girls to meet me in the garage and grab these boxes. We will be there in less than 5 minutes."
